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property protection. Once an inventor was granted a micropatent, the inven-
tor would immediately be granted an implicit, short-term exclusive right to
the disclosed idea. Only in case of a dispute by two
practicing
commercial
entities, would allegations of patent infringement be evaluated by traditional
tests of novelty, utility and non-obviousness.
Striking the right balance
Where is all of this headed? If the truth is stranger than iction, maybe a good
place to see what lies ahead is in a science-iction novel.
In his novel
Makers
, science-iction author Cory Doctorow paints a riv-
eting picture of a future world where 3D printers have become common-
place. The world depicted in
Makers
is one that's suffering from hard times.
Unemployment is high. Large segments of the population have fallen off the
proverbial grid and are living in self-organized shantytowns.
The action begins as two of the topic's main characters, Perry and Lester,
inspire a small-scale economic revolution when they teach local people to
design, 3D print and sell their own wares. At irst, optimism reigns. As eco-
nomically marginalized people learn to design and 3D print products, work
collectives spring up all over the country and world. People gain employment
and get back their self-respect.
As the story continues, entrepreneurs make a living selling some truly dis-
turbing 3D printed custom artifacts. In a daily lea market that takes place in an
enormous parking lot of a bankrupted Wal-Mart, entrepreneurs casually hawk
printed bongs, single-shot zip guns, and patterned contact lenses. Teenage
vendors sell 3D printed biological oddities known as “bio,” for example, a
bracelet made of embryonic stem cells grown into little balls of fur, bone, and
skin. In this future world, another typical bioprinted goodie is artiicial roses
printed out of delicate leather made of cultivated fetal skin.
In the second half of the topic, economic dystopia sets in. The 3D printed
economy comes crashing down as businesses fall apart under an onslaught of
high-speed counterfeiting. New products have a diminishingly brief window
of proitability before low-cost 3D printed replicas undercut the market. The
Disney corporation, in search of new proitable ventures, kicks off a series of
aggressive intellectual property lawsuits that eventually cripple what's left of
the economy.
Makers
raises fascinating legal issues about a future world that may not
be so far off. From one perspective, the upside of democratizing the power
